Manchester data science firm Peak to invest in AI technology with £2.5m funding

Manchester data science firm Peak to invest in AI technology with £2.5m funding

Data science company Peak has secured £2.5m in a funding round led by London venture capital firm MMC Ventures.

The Manchester-based business, which helps companies drive growth using data, machine learning and AI technologies, has now raised £3.5m to date.

The latest cash boost from MMC follows last year’s seed investment led by Manchester firm Praetura Capital – funding used to expand Peak’s operations with new hires and the launch of development centres in Manchester and Jaipur, India.

Peak will use the latest £2.5m injection to accelerate sales growth and fund its ongoing investment in machine learning and AI tech.

Peak CEO Richard Potter, who co-founded the company with Atul Sharma and David Leitch, said: “We have seen incredible traction since launching our service in 2016. Our subscription revenues are growing in-line with the fastest growing global tech businesses, which demonstrates just how strong the demand for machine learning and AI technologies is in businesses across the spectrum.

“In that time, we have built an amazing data science and engineering capability, while delivering some incredible results for our customers.”

He added: “This round of funding will enable us to further develop both our technology and our team, while accelerating our commercial growth.”

MMC Ventures managing partner Jon Coker said of the investment: “We believe that intelligent use of data will unlock huge value for companies over the next few years, and AI will be at the core of that value release.

“But AI is a noisy space and cutting through that noise to find providers who can really deliver measurable value for their customers is hard. That is what Peak’s platform does, and we are excited to be backing Richard, Atul and Dave’s vision for the future.”

Praetura Capital managing partner Mike Fletcher, chairman of Peak, commented: “We took our time to assess the best funding route for the next stage of our growth.

“We wanted an investor with an understanding of B2B SaaS companies and how to scale them globally, as well as having an appreciation for the nascent machine learning and AI sector. In MMC Ventures we believe we have found the perfect partner and we’re delighted to welcome them into the company.”